How A Fitness Tracker Can Help You

There’s no better motivator than a personal fitness tracker. Today’s fitness trackers, including fitness watches and bracelets, are almost as good as having your own personal trainer. They’re motivational tools that help you set daily activity and dietary goals, encourage you to reach those goals, and give you valuable feedback that will help you to assess your progress along the way. Fitness trackers promote healthy living in every aspect of life, whether at home, in the workplace, or on vacation. Most fitness trackers also work in conjunction with special apps that turn raw data into useful fitness feedback. Some apps even let you communicate with friends for goal sharing and mutual support.

Wear Your Motivation Under Your Sleeve

One of the biggest challenges of getting fit is finding the daily inspiration to do the necessary work. It’s easy to fall short of one’s daily activity goals. For this reason, some of today’s wrist-based motivators, if you’ve been sitting idle for too long, will sound an alarm and show you an encouraging message such as “It’s time to get moving!” Others still will show you what percentage of your daily activity goal you’ve reached, which is excellent motivation for getting up and increasing that number. For instance, if it’s getting late and you’re only at 80% of your daily activity goal, simply knowing this fact can drive you to go after that final 20%.

Receive Valuable Fitness Feedback, Continually

The continual feedback provided by today’s fitness trackers lets you see where you’re doing well and where you may need improvement. In the first instance, you’re rewarded with a dose of positive reinforcement. In the second, you’re pushed to work a little harder and do a little better. App-based feedback (in the form of graphs, charts, and other highly visual information) can also be extremely helpful in the setting and achieving of one’s daily, weekly, and monthly goals. For example, pie charts make a different kind of impression than raw numerical data. Such information may be easier for some individuals to digest. If a little push is all you need, a fitness tracker can be a highly useful tool.

Top Features of Today’s Fitness Trackers

Not all fitness trackers offer the exact same features, but a number of useful features have become standard on many of today’s most popular models. Topping this list are features like GPS tracking (to help track and accurately measure your walking or running routes), training modes (for timing your workout or run), and food intake tracking (to help you with calorie counting/burning and other dietary goals). Other common features include heart rate monitoring (to help you stay within your optimal heart rate zone), pedometers (for counting your daily steps), and goal-setting features that consider your age, weight, and height to help you set, manage, and reach sensible and attainable goals.